Play
by the pick-it fence
Summary: Thinking he truly is insane, Luigi is revisited by an old foe that he thought was sealed away. Peach sends Daisy to help him look on the brighter side of life, but while working with him...she's also falling for him
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: Cursing, violence, mild adult themes, and very little humor throughout this story.**

**Prequel to Buffering. You may read that first if you want, but it is not really required.**

* * *

**Play**

**Chapter 1**

Insanity (noun) - The state of being seriously mentally ill; madness

To those who read those very words in a dictionary, they are meaningless. They are nothing but words on a page. You truly do not know what insanity is, unless you yourself are insane. The question is: are you?

Do you notice that everything is not as it used to be?

Do you notice that every time you cock your head, there is someone watching you?

Do you experience countless nightmares that end with you falling into the abyss?

Perhaps not, but for one man, this was a regular occurrence. One simple man that led an extraordinary life living in his brother's shadow. His name? Luigi.

Kind, quiet, calm, delicate Luigi. For as long as he could remember, there was always one side to him that he kept locked away in the darker part of his mind, where he was a completely different person. With this in mind, he lived out his young life one day after another. His brother would take most the fame and the glory, but Luigi was fine with that. Mario was a true brother. His only true friend that would trust him, listen to him, help him…But things are always meant to change.

After saving all worlds from The Chaos Heart, Luigi noticed that The Mushroom Kingdom was now different from his point of view. It was much darker…much more horrifying, almost like a horror movie that he always covered his eyes for.

A being was released during that war for all worlds. A being that was never meant to be released.

Mr. L was what it called itself. The very being that Luigi kept suppressed in his mind for years was finally released. It possessed Luigi's body, making him dark, negative, sarcastic, and even a cold-blooded killer. Once Luigi was capable of putting Mr. L back in his proper place, he was never the same.

Mr. L returned to reality only in apparitions- shadow figures that couldn't harm a person, but could easily shift objects to make their presence known. He would return to Luigi and simply stare at him. This would last for minutes at a time, but each visit would be longer than the last.

Luigi knew he wasn't seeing things, he knew he was sane, but the rest of the world was convinced otherwise. Luigi tried to persuade them to believe what he believed, but everyone couldn't see what he saw and they couldn't understand what he understood.

It was all part of Mr. L's plans to turn Luigi into a mad man. To keep him in solitary confinement with nothing but him and his thoughts. It was going so well. Luigi was always locked away from the rest of the world now. He was always in his own prison cell- his room. He never spoke to anyone now, not even his brother.

Insanity (noun) – Luigi

* * *

The grandfather clock in Princess Peach's room ticked to a steady beat. She took a deep breath and looked out the balcony. The cold winter chills began to roll into her room, forcing her to close the balcony's doors. She walked towards her desk, hoping to find a blank piece of paper. It had been a long time since she had seen her friend in the neighboring kingdom, Daisy. Princess Daisy, to be exact.

Feisty, clumsy, loyal, sweet, tomboy-ish Daisy. She always knew how to keep a person on their toes. Even her father thought she was quiet the mess to handle, but nonetheless, friends were friends and girls will be girls.

With both princesses reaching the proper age to marry, Peach had tried to contact Daisy often. Daisy never considered marriage while Peach thought about it since childhood. It was supposed to be a huge day filled with joy and laughter that almost every girl craves to see, but to Daisy, it was just one big, boring, white party.

Toadsworth had talked to Peach about marriage often as well. However, he always recommended royalty. Peach didn't hate the royals; she just wanted someone…different. Someone daring, bold, brave, determined, exciting, kind, compassionate, strange, quiet and loud at the same time. There was one person that fit this description, but Toadsworth had always said, "Commoners are common people. Royals are the regal people who have class."

Changing the subject in her mind, Peach took a blank piece of paper and set it down on the desk.

_Dear Princess Daisy,_

_ I was hoping that we could spend the holidays in The Mushroom Kingdom. The desert is no place to spend Christmas if you ask me. I'd appreciate it if you could come._

_Please tell the family I said hello and I hope to see you soon._

_ Love,_

_ Princess Peach_

* * *

Daisy strode into her father's work room. The desk was piled with mountains and mountains of papers. This is how Daisy knew her father now. He was a solemn man that only worked and worked and worked some more. She remembered when they used to play games outside and read bedtime stories in strange voices. That, of course, was in the past. There was no point in wishing for it to come back, because it never would. Sarsaland was in mass debt. It surprisingly was still paying off the damage that was caused back when Tatanga attacked and kidnapped Daisy. The king took the payments into his own hands and there was never any time for family now.

The study was empty at the moment so Daisy took the liberty to check the pile of mail on his desk.

She held a hand full of letters up to the light. "Bills, bills, bills, advertisements, junk, bills, bills, junk, bills, advertisements…"

A neat letter slipped out of her grip and fell to the floor. Daisy set the mail down on the desk and crouched down to the letter to get a better look at it.

"To: Princess Daisy Sarsa. From: Princess Peach Toadstool. Hmm…" She picked the letter up and straightened out her spine.

"What are you doing in here?" A voice boomed.

Daisy turned around and faced her father. She held the letter close to her chest. "I was just getting a letter from the mail pile."

"Very well," The king sighed, "Please leave."

"But Daddy, I have a…"

"Now, child."

Daisy frowned. Her father was never any fun anymore. She walked out of the study, closing the door on her way out. She walked into her room and sat on the bed. Ripping open the light pink envelope, she read the letter carefully.

Grabbing a small, ripped piece of paper and a pen, she wrote back quickly.

_Peach-_

_ I'd love to! I can't wait to see everyone again! I'm catching the next train outta here A.S.A.P. See ya soon!_

_ -Daisy_

* * *

**That was the beginning to Play. If you haven't noticed, for this mini-series, I'm using video terms that match up with the story. **_  
_

**Buffering refers to a pause in any point of a video where everything just freezes. In the story, Daisy being in a coma was where the pause took place. **

**Play refers to when the video is playing and you see everything going on. Since this is a prequel, (and I'm not going to spoil the end) play would fit in because you're watching everything unfold. **

**Boring title? Perhaps.**

**Are you going to change it? Nope.**

**Darn it! Get used to disappointment. **

**So far, so good? You tell me.**

**Click my profile for more of my stories and leave a review, comment, favorite, follow, PM me if you want, and I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Daisy arrived in The Mushroom Kingdom the next day. Her father barely even grunted when she asked to go. Perhaps sometime away from Sarsaland would do her some good. After all, it was Christmas. It was the time to be happy and spend some well-deserved quality time with friends. Daisy couldn't wait.

* * *

Mario knocked on the mansion doors. Snow flurries slowly fell down, gradually covering the ground in a white blanket. His fingers felt numb as he stood outside. He should have known better, Luigi never answered the door anymore. Whatever was wrong with him, he needed to man up and get over it. The brothers grew apart ever since Castle Bleck and all that chaos. For some reason that Mario couldn't understand, Luigi would always say that something was always watching him. He never explained what "it" was, but he said that he just needed to escape it. Mario left it at that and almost never talked to him. Now, he was here to invite Luigi to the castle for the holidays…if he opened the damn door.

The door shook open and Luigi peered over the edge. "Yeah?"

Mario opened the door wider and walked in. "I'm freezing," He quickly walked up to the old room of portraits that he couldn't remember the name to. All he knew was that it had a bunch of creepy paintings and a fire place, but that was good enough for him.

Luigi closed the door. He turned on the lights in the foyer and first few rooms in the mansion, happy to have company. He sat down next to Mario by the fire.

"So…uh, how have you been?" Mario rubbed his hands together.

Luigi nodded. "G-good."

"I've been fine myself."

Luigi nodded again. He didn't change much since the last time that Mario had seen him. He was still quiet and still couldn't talk for his life. "I'm not going to stay for long," Mario began to stand up, "I just wanted to tell you…"

Luigi desperately grabbed Mario's arm, making him stop. "No, please, just stay for a while longer."

Mario slowly sat back down, looking into his brother's eyes. "Okay…"

The fire popped during the brief moments of silence. Mario finally spoke again. "I just wanted to tell you that you can come over for the holidays…to the castle. You can come to the castle."

Luigi breathed inwardly and smiled. "Thanks…"

"Yeah, so…"

The awkward silence was interrupted every once and a while by the fire crackling. Mario looked over at his brother. "You…you sure you're fine?"

Luigi nodded and lowered his voice, as if someone was listening to them. "Yes. I'm…I'm fine."

"You just seem tired, that's all."

"I-I really have had some trouble sleeping…I'm fine though, don't worry about it…"

"I'm not worrying about it, I just wanted to know."

"Oh."

Seconds passed…Minutes…Absolute silence. The brothers didn't truly know if they were brothers any more. One thought the other needed to man-up while the other claimed he wasn't insane. Mario wasn't sure if Luigi really did lose his mind or if he was just playing with him. If he was, this was quite the elaborate joke, even for Luigi. If he wasn't joking, then something bad could happen and it would cost Mario.

Thinking it was just some silly joke, Mario asked the question. "Remember when you told me that something was watching you? That was pretty freaky, you almost had me."

"What are you talking about?"

"That 'thing' that you always talked about. You never told me its name, but it might have been some stupid inside joke that I didn't know about."

"What joke?" Luigi had a stern tone in his voice, "I never told you any joke. When I told you that something was watching me, I was serious."

"Sure," Mario stood up and put his hands up in surrender, "I think I should really go. Relax, take a break, do whatever it takes for you to get your sanity back."

Luigi shot up as Mario walked out the room and towards the door. He threw himself in front of the doors and towered over Mario. "I'm sane, Mario. Why don't you believe me?"

Mario snickered. "Because you're seeing things! Whatever that was before, I'm pretty sure it's not here. You even moved out so that it wouldn't follow you. I think you're getting a little…crazy."

"I'm not crazy!"

"Okay, bro. I'll see you later." Mario tried to open the door, but Luigi's weight held it closed. "Dude, I need to open the door."

"No, you need to listen to me. I'm stuck in this mansion 24/7 and I have no one to talk to but myself."

"There's a great new thing called 'the outdoors', you should really try to get your ass over there."

"Mario, you won't listen to me!"

"What do I need to know, huh? Tell me."

"Night and day, this figure…it stalks me…it knows my every move and it haunts me…" Luigi's eyes moved over to the middle of the foyer. A black shadow with white eyes stood there. It was about the same height of Luigi, but it didn't speak and neither did Luigi.

Mario poked Luigi's chest. "I can't stay here forever."

Luigi didn't respond. He moved away from the door and walked over to the figure. "LEAVE ME ALONE YOU SON OF A BITCH!" He pushed his hands through the figure but it disappeared. Mario turned around in confusion.

Luigi kneeled down and covered his head with his arms. He clenched his jaw and shut his eyes tightly, as if he were going to cry. Mario didn't bother to console him, or to even say goodbye, he simply opened the door and left out into the heavy snow.

Luigi cried softly. "Leave me alone…I'm going insane because of you…" He looked up to the chandelier, "I'M GOING INSANE BECAUSE OF YOU!"

His shout vibrated through the halls, but no one and nothing responded.

* * *

Mario sat down by the fire in the library. Peach set down a tray of tea and took a small sip from a cup before sitting down.

"Is he coming?" She finally asked.

Mario shrugged and adjusted his scarf. "I don't know. He went crazy the last few minutes I was there." He had never seen Luigi act that way before, but he thought it was still a practical joke that Luigi went out of his way to make Mario believe was true.

"I'm assuming that's a yes?"

Mario shrugged again. "I think. We'll see."

Peach took another sip of tea and stared aimlessly into the fire. The room was quiet and for once, Toadsworth wasn't hovering around the two. It was nice to have some privacy. As the fire flickered, Peach suddenly remembered something.

"Daisy will be coming tomorrow." Peach beamed.

"Princess Daisy?"

Peach nodded. "She can't wait to see us again."

"She's a ball of energy, so she'll defiantly be a little saner."

"Hmm?"

"No, it's just that Luigi's been acting up a lot and I'm starting to think that this prank is getting to his head. Maybe an obnoxious princess could be just what he needs to snap out of it."

"What prank?"

"Nothing you need to know. Just an inside joke."

"Oh." Peach picked her tea up halfway before setting it back down again, "Mario?"

He looked up to her.

"Thank you."

Mario arched and eyebrow in confusion. "Thank you for what?"

"For being there for me. For saving me."

He smiled. "It's nothing. You're my friend; I'd do anything for my friends."

Peach's smile faded at the word "friend". Was that all she was to him? A friend and nothing more? After all these years, she thought that maybe he would consider her more than a friend. But maybe she guessed wrong. Maybe Mario didn't consider her more than a friend. Maybe he just didn't care enough about her. Maybe he just didn't love her.

* * *

The morning came quickly and the train station was empty. Snow covered the platform's wooden planks. The doors to the train slid open and Daisy stepped out along with other travelers. A pink bag was extremely heavy for some odd reason. In fact, Daisy didn't remember even bringing a pink bag. She knelt and opened the zipper.

"FREEDOM!" Toadette popped out and took deep breaths of the chilled winter air.

Daisy smirked. "How did you get in there?"

Toadette's eyes shifted. "Uhh…magic?"

Daisy patted Toadette's head and let her hop out. They both walked to Peach's castle, trudging through the snow.

The castle gates opened swiftly to let Daisy and Toadette walk in. Peach walked out, holding her jacket's sides close to her body. She smiled and ran towards Daisy. They both hugged each other.

"It's wonderful to see you again!" Peach shouted with glee.

"Same to you!" Daisy embraced her friend.

They both stepped away from the hug and walked inside the castle. Daisy looked around with her jaw dropped in amazement. She had forgotten how amazing Peach's castle truly was on the inside. Toadette wandered off to the other side of the castle. Daisy and Peach walked gracefully towards the library, talking quietly to each other.

Mario and Luigi were already talking…or at least trying to talk. It had been to awkward talking to each other ever since the other night. Their bond was hanging on by a string now and if one made the wrong move, everything could fall.

Peach and Daisy giggled into the room. The brothers stood up and walked over to them.

"Hiya, Bros! Long time, no see, huh?" Daisy gave them a small welcoming smile.

"Yeah, it's been a while." Mario replied.

She enthusiastically shook Luigi's hand in hopes he would at least speak. He was always quiet, but they were close friends. "I heard you got a mansion now. That's cool, well, if it's one of those really big mansions. I've seen the mansions that are pretty small and don't get me started on the doll house mansions. They're huge alright, but they're a pain to push around."

Luigi managed to smile a bit at her strange ramble.

Daisy turned away from him and walked back to Peach. "I'm going to set up my stuff in my room." She skipped off towards her room down the halls.

Toadsworth called for Peach and she excused herself from the brothers. Mario looked back over at Luigi. "I know that I might have pranked you hard before, but you're really starting to freak me out with this 'shadow' thing." He put the word "shadow" in air quotes.

Luigi simply chuckled. "You still think it's a joke, don't you?"

"It is."

"It's not!" Luigi hissed and glared at him. "It haunts me for no reason…no reason at all." He looked down at an open book on the table.

"Alright, whatever you say." Mario left his brother alone in the library, not wanting to continue the pointless conversation.

Luigi kept his eyes on the book, even though he had no idea what it was about. He just hoped that if he could avert his mind from that shadow for more than 5 seconds, it would do him some good. But after every sentence, the shadow popped back into his mind and he couldn't even focus on the story.

Daisy walked past the door to the library and her eyes scanned over Luigi for a brief second. She stopped in front of the door. Luigi didn't look away from the book, even though his mind was elsewhere. She tried to start a conversation, "Hey…"

He quickly looked up to her and almost went pale. She looked like the shadow for a second, but her proper image came through. "H-Hi."

"What'cha reading?" She walked closer.

He closed the book. "I don't…know."

"You were just reading it, silly!" She laughed.

He tried to smile, but she could tell it was forced. "I can't believe it's going to be the holidays already," Daisy continued, "I remember when it was summer. The heat and everything, but we have plenty of heat over in Sarsaland…it's like one constant heat wave…" Her voice trailed off as silence spread throughout the room. The fire crackled a few times, but neither one made another sound.

Peach was walking towards the library but she quickly stopped before the open doors. Peering over the edge of the doors, she watched Daisy and Luigi closely.

"What is it like to be on an adventure?" Daisy suddenly asked, breaking the eerie silence.

Luigi shrugged. "You've…you've never gone on an adventure?"

"Well, when you guys were always off on some adventure or something, I was stuck at home. I guess I just never tag along with you guys and I want to know what it's like. I mean, I know you save the world and everything, but…what is the whole experience? What is like to be THE hero? The very hero foretold in the prophecies or something like that."

Luigi looked back down at the table. His mind flooded with memories of his last adventure…with Mr. L. He prepared to sum it all up and tell her, but he thought that she would only think the shadow was a prank too. He balled his fists and glared at her. "I'm afraid you've got the wrong guy." He stormed out of the library and headed down the hall. Peach hid herself quickly, but he didn't even notice. She had never noticed that Luigi suddenly sounded so…dark. Peach never took much note of Luigi, but after hearing that, she was shocked to conclude something she had never realized before.

Maybe not everything in her perfect little world _was_ perfect. Seeing that Daisy was the only one in the room that had seemed much more lively out of the two, she quickly thought of something. If the two could just become closer, then maybe everything would be better. Everything would fall back into place and Luigi would be the same.

Everything would be the same.

* * *

**I know I said I would update this only on the weekends but I started it the day before and I was just like "Whatever." and here we are!**

**Some pretty strong language in here, but it's rated T for a reason. **

**Daisy's never gone on an adventure! DUN DUN DDDUUUUNNN. I'm thinking about doing a story where she DOES go on an adventure, but we'll see...we'll see.**

**Luigi? Insane? PFFFT. Yeah right! There's no reason why I put that he was insane in the description AND in the first chapter I just gave the definition of insanity for no reason as well...no reason at all. (That's for my friends that think Luigi is perfectly fine...yes, friends, yes he is)**

**Man oh man, have I got some MAJOR MarioxPeach s*** coming up in this. I can smell it now. (yes I'll censor myself down here, but up there, it's a smorgasbord)**

**The shipping in this story will be MOST UNORTHODOX, but, what can I say? I'm the pick-it fence! I can do what I want, when I want...as long as I'm back by curfew. **

**I'm having too much fun writing these author's notes. I need to be more serious. I'll be more serious...when I care. I wrote two tragic stories on here (Buffering and All She Wrote) and this will most likely be one of them too, so I need to add SOME form of comic relief in this. WELL, here it is! *ta-da***

**The doctor was supposed to be the comic relief in Buffering, but I thought that he was cruel...DANGNABIT. Mario is also a bit of an *** in here too, but brothers are brothers. **

**Pick-it's (maybe false) DID YOU KNOW moment: Did you know that Mr. L wasn't going to be in Super Paper Mario originally? In fact, he was just put in as comic relief at first, since they thought that the dialogue wasn't good enough. After a few months, Mr. L was much more developed and became more than comic relief, but also a homebase for fangirls. **

**Eh, that might be false, but I do know that Mr. L was meant to be comic relief. In the game, he's okay, but nothing that made me slap my knee and clap like a retarded seal. As for the Mr. L fangirls out there: HI! I'M HERE TOO! (I just try my best to hide it) **

**Alright, enough's enough:**

**Click my profile for more stories by me if you liked this one (so far)! Leave a review, comment, favorite, follow, PM me if you want to know anything, and I will see YOU...in the next update (most likely this weekend) BYE-BYE!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Snooping around the kitchen corners, Toad and Toadette looked for something interesting to do. The servants knew the castle like the back of their hands, but they always knew that Toad and Toadette were well-known for their strange antics. A simple trip to the cookie jar sometimes became a whole adventure with plenty of planning and stealth, which neither of them had. However, Toadette always took control but never the blame. She claimed it was teamwork; she did the work, while Toad took one for the team, "teamwork". Toad didn't agree with her reasoning completely, but his affection for her made most of the choices for him.

The kitchen was empty and the top cupboard looked miles away. Toadette ordered Toad to watch the door while she built a ladder to the top cupboard. "Careful!" Toad whispered.

"I know, I know!" Toadette piled a few cookbooks on top of each other, gradually building a ladder for her small body to climb. Tossing the final book on the top, Toadette climbed up the tower of books.

Toad jumped up to the circular window in the middle of the kitchen doors. He saw Toadsworth walking closer to the doors, his eyes on his watch. Toad frowned and turned back to Toadette. "Old man alert!"

"I almost have it…just a little farther!" Toadette outstretched her arm as far as she could, but she couldn't reach the small box in the back of the cupboard.

"Hurry!" Toad squealed. There was no time, he needed to think quickly. He ran over to Toadette and pushed her inside the cupboard. She squeaked as she tumbled back into the cupboard. Toad closed the door and climbed down the ladder. He kicked the books out-of-the-way. Toadsworth walked in and looked up from his watch.

"Son, what are you doing in here?" He asked staring at the cookbooks spread out on the floor.

"Nothing, just getting used to the vegetables and such." Toad threw his hands on the lettuce behind him.

"Ah," Toadsworth nodded and walked over to the books on the floor. "I wonder how these got down here…"

Toad shrugged and put his hands in front of him. Toadette pushed the cupboard door open and fell out, landing perfectly into Toad's arms. Toadsworth looked back at them with surprise. "Mistress Toadette, what are you doing in here?"

Toadette giggled nervously. "Long story…" Toad began to blush madly, but Toadette stood up and moved away from his grip. "There was a small earthquake that shook the ground in the kitchen, but not anywhere else. It was so strong that it tossed me into the cupboard."

"And closed the door?" Toadsworth titled his head.

Toadette nodded. "Sure."

"Dad," Toad glanced down, "We were just going to leave but I shoved Toadette inside the cupboard."

"Why?"

Toad shrugged. "I don't know…"

"Very well," Toadsworth puffed up his chest, "Leave now."

Toad and Toadette both scurried out of the kitchen, running towards an empty room in the halls. Toadette turned the light on and sat down in the middle of the small room. Toad sat down next to her, putting his hand close to hers.

"I got it," Toadette pulled out the black box from the pocket of her skirt and set it down in front of them. "I'm thinking it's going to be earrings."

Toad kept his eyes on Toadette's face lost in her beauty. "I'm sure it's beautiful." He mused.

Toadette looked over at him and smiled. "I bet it is, now let's find out!" She flipped the small box open and her jaw dropped in astonishment.

"I told you it was somewhere in the kitchen." Toad smirked.

Toadette held the fragile crystal bracelet in her hands. The room's light was reflecting off its genuine crystals that Toadette knew were real because she had been down in the mines many times before. "I just wonder how Mario hid this and didn't even tell Peach. It's amazing."

Toad put a finger on one of the crystals. "Maybe Mario didn't hide it. Maybe it wasn't meant for Peach. Maybe it was meant for someone else."

Toadette looked at him, bewildered by his words. He gently flipped the bracelet over and a name was engraved on its gold back. _Toadette_. She ran her finger across the engraving. No one had ever given her something like this before.

"T-Toad…" She looked over at him, "Did you…?"

He nodded shyly.

She giggled again and unexpectedly hugged him. He blushed again. As dependent as Toadette was, she could be a real softie.

* * *

Fate was supposedly cruel to the pink princess, making her have to come up with plans to make things perfect again on such short notice. The past seemed like such a better place, but those were just memories now; simple memories that would obviously never return. However, if planning was what it took to change things around, then planning would occur.

Princess Daisy watched Luigi from afar. Since when did he suddenly become so irritated to talk? Sure, he didn't talk much in the past, but he would always open up to his friends. Luigi would sometimes complain about living in his brother's shadow, but it wasn't the only topic on his mind. He would always try to have a good time, even if he really didn't want to. Daisy was determined to find out why this was so on her own, until Peach stopped her.

"Daisy!" Peach whispered from behind a tree.

Daisy looked around her, but couldn't find the source of the noise. It sounded again as she turned back to Luigi in the white distance. Becoming annoyed, she turned around sharply as Peach stood behind her. "Daisy!" She grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Ah! Peach, what do you want?" Daisy scowled.

"So, I may have overheard your conversation before with _him_," Putting emphasis on the "him", Peach gestured off into the far, white, abyss where only Luigi's faint outline could be seen. "And I think I have a small idea for you."

"Oh no." Daisy moved away from Peach's grip and put her hands out. "I know what your ideas are like and there is no way I'm going on a blind date again. Last time you tried to pair me up with Francis. FRANCIS!"

"I admit that was a bit unnecessary, but this plan is much different. You see, I've noticed that _he _is being a little 'under the weather' and I thought that maybe you could…"

"He has a name, y'know." Daisy put her hands on her hips.

"Yes, yes, but I think that…"

"And since when do you notice anything about Luigi? It's always 'Mario this' or 'Mario that' or 'Ohmigosh, Mario's so awesome!'"

"Will you let me talk?!"

"Fine." The brunette sighed.

"As I was saying, I think that maybe you two should work together."

"Work together for what?"

"Just…make him a little…happier, like you always do."

"My happiness is not just some toy you can play with. Every moment is special and comes from the heart."

"Oh, will you just go?" Peach gently pushed Daisy away, forcing her to walk towards Luigi. Daisy huffed and trudged through the snow, turning back to make sure that Peach was watching. The moment she wasn't, Daisy would run back towards the castle.

Luigi plotted himself far away from the castle grounds, but it was still in sight. Snow covered the ground well and the rest of the world was a vast sea of a bland, white color. Thinking was the main thing that Luigi had done for a year now. Sometimes it would do him some good, but other times, the shadow would appear and would shockingly try to portray some sort of communication by either throwing something on the ground or trying to manifest itself into a human. Each time it would fail, but its effort would never go unnoticed. Luigi was forced to watch it all happen, for his body wouldn't move while these events occurred. He was slowly losing his sanity, but he didn't care. So what if the world thought he was insane? Screw them. So what if he was thrown into an asylum? More time to think…more time to plot…more time to scheme. But, there was so much more to life, wasn't there? Happiness, love, peace, tranquility - everything in the world that was good. It was a blessing to have it all in one person and that person so happened to approach the man with the tap of his shoulder.

"Hey, Luigi." A soft voice cooed.

Snapping back to reality, he looked beside him. Daisy stood there, looking at him confidently, but a smile was nowhere on her face. Luigi simply put his hands in his coat pockets, not giving a reply. "This may sound weird, but, how many marshmallows do you like in your hot cocoa?" He looked at her for a brief second, but did not reply. "Not the huge marshmallows, but like, the tiny ones." He was still quiet. "I usually like six, but my dad likes ten. I know that Peach likes seven, but Mario likes eight. So, how many do you like?"

Without a response, Daisy gave up. She looked back and noticed that Peach was gone. Ready to make a run for it, she turned back towards the castle. Her snowshoes sank neatly into the snow as they formed footprints. This was the perfect snow for a snowball fight. Daisy smiled as she held a handful of snow. Rolling it into a perfect ball, she aimed for Luigi. But something in her mind told her not to. She cupped the ball into her hands and walked back towards him. She laughed nervously and knelt to the ground. Putting the ball on the ground, she rolled another medium-sized ball and put that on top of the first one. Grabbing a smaller handful of snow, she put that on top of the medium-sized ball. Luigi knelt next to her, looking at her small creation. "What do you think?" Daisy asked softly. Luigi reached into his pocket and pulled out a spare button. He placed it on the small snowman's chest. Daisy gently broke a twig next to her and put both halves on the sides of the snowman. She gingerly put two pebbles on the snowman's face to represent eyes. She poked in a small hole to represent a nose.

"I think he's missing something." Luigi squinted.

"What?" Daisy sat back.

Luigi carefully drew in a smile on the snowman and sat back next to her. Daisy gave him small thumbs up and laughed. He met with her eyes and smiled. "What are we going to call him?" She asked.

He put his hand next to hers. "Smalls."

"Squint."

"Squirt."

"Snowman-man."

"Snowman junior."

"Steve."

Luigi looked over at her, "Steve?"

Daisy shrugged. "It's catchy; it starts with an 'S'…it meets the basic necessities of being a snowman's name."

"Steve it is." Luigi moved his hand on top of hers. She took his hand warmly and blushed slightly. They sat there for a few moments, simply staring at the snowman.

Daisy's name was shouted by Peach from the castle. Daisy sighed. "Well, I guess I have to go. Watch Steve well, my friend." She headed back towards the castle.

"Five." Luigi said.

She turned back around. "What?"

"I like five marshmallows in my cocoa." He gave her a genuine smile and she giggled back. Skipping back to the castle with a few butterflies in her stomach, Daisy felt a strange surge of happiness go through her.

* * *

**I actually like this chapter. It pretty much covered most of the characters in here. Usually the second chapter is where I make everything 2x better, but I think I nailed it here. It's up to you if I did. **

**So, that was chapter 3! Chapter 4 might be up with weekend, but that's just an estimate and I fail at estimates. I have school! BOO! But I don't on Monday! (1/21/12) YAY! That means more work and more chapters uploaded! AWWWWW YEEEAAAHHH! I love writing. :)**

**Anyhoo, I hope you liked the snowman part. It was sorta last minute and sorta an experience that I had. I was going to snowball my dad, but then he was like: "NO WAY, CHILD!" So I just sighed and made a mini-snowman. I froze it in the freezer because I was weird like that and I gave it to my parents for Christmas. But it melted the next morning. Ah, memories. **

**Now, if you will kindly excuse me, I have some episodes of The Twilight Zone to watch. Click my profile for more stories by me! Leave a comment, review, follow, favorite, PM me if you want to know anything or suggest anything, and I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

"_I was only trying to help."_

"_Help how? You've destroyed enough things today, klutz!"_

"_But, Luigi…I'm sorry."_

"_That was my mother's necklace and you lost it in the river!"_

"_I can swim and get it back."_

"_No you can't."_

"_I swear I'll be right back…"_

"_No, Daisy…just go."_

"_But…"_

"_Now."_

"_Luigi…"_

"_Now!"_

_Twisted emotions ran through Daisy that day. Nothing was going as she planned at all. They were supposed to be closer now, but he didn't want to see her again. He didn't want to see anyone again that day. The mansion was remote and possibly his only chance. Leaving the adolescent Daisy behind by the rushing waters of the river, he walked away. Daisy felt her knees buckle as she fell to the grass below. Sorry or not, Luigi probably never wanted to see her face again._

* * *

Still in the white snow, Luigi stared off into the abyss, as he was doing before. He felt the ground grow cold under his palm. He moved it away and kept his hands locked together. A black mist rose around him. Luigi began to panic and shot up. He forced his legs to run towards the castle, but he was frozen, as if he were stuck in time. The black mist surrounded him and made the vast land turn into a dark and hellish world. It was empty and Luigi was planted directly in the middle of it. The shadow had returned, but this time, it manifested itself quickly, looking much more detailed and human-like. The black mist emanated off its defined body as it made its way closer to Luigi. A demonic voice echoed through the black world, talking slowly and fluently. "Emptiness…y-you feel it well. The girl…she holds a past…a past that cannot be…forgotten…can it?" Not able to give a motion or an oral response, Luigi stood there and let the voice almost posses him. "She has taken the last thing that your mommy dearest gave you…she took it…and crushed it…it's gone…but, since you need it, I'll give you…a hint: go to the broken door."

The black world suddenly disappeared and turned back into its natural white and gray colors. Utterly shocked and paralyzed by the previous event, Luigi began to wonder how the shadow was capable of speaking to him. It had done no such thing in the past, but its effort became something much more dangerous. A sense of disruption was lingering in the air and Luigi was the first one to notice. He needed to be able to trust someone, but who would believe him? After all, everyone thought he was insane.

* * *

Daisy sat down on the bed, staring aimlessly at the mirror. It was an odd thing to have a staring contest with your reflection, since it would blink the same moment you did. But Daisy always thought that there was more to a mirror. That perhaps there was indeed a parallel universe behind it and that every time she was having a staring contest with a new copy of herself that, fortunately, could not keep their eyes open for more than a minute. Peach found it unhealthy to stare at something too long, since she believed that your body would remain in that same position for the rest of your life, but Daisy pushed Peach's advice aside, as she had always done.

"The snow is pretty dense, isn't it?" Peach commented. Daisy only grunted a slight "uh-huh" but kept her eyes on the mirror, this time studying her figure carefully. She was an average height for a young woman, no taller than Peach, but no stronger than Mario. Her eyes had a strange glaze to them, making it look as if she were about to cry, but she hadn't cried in years. Her hands had tiny scars that had now blended in with her natural light, tanned, skin-tone, and they were almost unnoticeable. Her completion: perfect. Her hair: short, neat, the same color as light coffee, and always carried the same delicate smell of hazel. Her clothes: mostly casual, but fitting for anywhere she went. Her personality, however, was what the mirror didn't reveal. Just looking at herself alone, Daisy saw a defined, young woman, ready to tackle the world as it came. On the inside, she just as clumsy and strange as the rest of the clumsy and strange people. She forced herself into conversations and almost lost anything she touched, so what had made Luigi notice her years before?

"Daisy." Peach called in a stern tone. Daisy blinked twice and her mind suddenly cleared of what she had thought about.

"Yes?" She sat up straight and put her hands neatly on her lap.

"Nothing. I simply thought that the snow is getting a little dense this year. If it were to fall any harder, then the castle would be surrounded and we would all be locked inside."

"That would be a little...weird." Daisy blurted. Quickly regretting what she had said, she prayed that Peach didn't hear that.

"Where do you suppose Luigi is going?" Peach looked out of the corner of the window. Through the light snowfall, Peach could see someone walking farther away from the castle. Another person quickly ran up to him and stopped him. Daisy stood next to Peach and looked over her shoulder, studying the scene well.

Mario had walked up to Luigi and stopped him. Luigi turned back, but did not speak, leaving Mario to ramble in peace.

"Where are you going? It's only going to get worse."

Luigi shrugged. "I'm not that cold."

"You're heading back to the mansion, aren't you?" Not leaving time for a reply, Mario pushed on. "Why can't you just spend at least a day with people? Are you becoming anti-social or are you just too scared?"

"I'm not scared."

"Or maybe it's because you just don't want to be around us. Maybe you think we're all going to kill you. We're your friends and I know for a fact that friends don't kill friends."

"I never said you would kill me."

"You don't say anything. You just go ahead and do what you want. The more time you spend locked away from the rest of the world, the more you're going to regret it. Running away won't solve anything."

"I'm not running away."

"Well excuse me. _Walking _away won't solve anything either. Why can't you just be normal and spend a day out of that mansion?"

"Because there's no use. It'll find me."

Mario began to get annoyed and began to speak sarcastically, "Oh no! The great and mysterious shadow thing will find you! Whatever shall we do?" He grabbed Luigi by the shoulders, "Listen, you need to get that thing out of your head. Joke's over."

Luigi frowned and slapped Mario's arms down. He sneered. "It's not a joke! For the last time, Mario, it's not a joke!"

"Then stay here!"

"I can't!"

"Because it'll get me either way! I'd rather stay in the mansion than release it around other people!"

"No you won't!"

"Yes I will! Why can't you listen to me?!"

"Because there's nothing to listen to! You need to GROW UP!"

They grew quiet and both brothers breathed heavily. Their visible breath met in one cloud of condensed air. Luigi breathed inwardly through his nose and glanced down. "You don't have to approve of my decisions, Mario. I'm old enough to take care of myself. If I think that something is right, then I'll do it and I think that what I'm doing is right. I'll see you again, eventually." He turned back towards the route to the mansion and made his way over there through the sea of snow. Dense flurries rained down on him, but he didn't mind.

"Luigi, get back over here." Mario demanded. Luigi didn't stop. He ordered again, but Luigi did not even slow down. It was no use. Luigi wouldn't listen to his brother and the snow would just get harder as the day went by.

Peach turned back to face Daisy, but no one was with the pink princess in the room. She headed down towards the gates to the castle, having a vague idea of what Daisy was about to do. Mario headed back towards the castle, powerless to stop his own brother. Daisy ran past him, quickly putting on her coat. "Daisy!" Peach shouted. "Daisy, don't you go out there!" Daisy did not respond and ran towards Luigi. Whatever he was doing, she was going to find out and join him, for she could sense the beginning of an adventure.

Mario walked up to Peach as she glared down at him. "You didn't even try to stop her." She crossed her arms. Mario shrugged, muttering a few words in response. He walked inside the castle and sat next to the nearest fire. Peach did not dare to go outside so she could only hope that all would be okay.

* * *

Daisy walked beside Luigi, keeping her hands in her pockets. Luigi did not look at her, but he could feel her presence. "You shouldn't be here."

Daisy scoffed. "I know, 'I'm too fragile.'"

"No, because you could get hurt."

"How?"

Luigi shook the thought away, not wanting to tell another person that might think he was insane. "Long story."

Daisy nodded and they both kept walking. The land was silent and the two made slow progress to the mansion. Luigi stopped Daisy midway. "Turn back; it'll take too long for you to get back to the castle."

Daisy refused. "No."

"No?"

She looked over at him. "I'm going where you're going."

"You can't…" His voice trailed off as he looked up to the now black skies. There was no use in arguing here and now. The snow was gradually falling faster. If they argued now, then they would both freeze. "Fine, but we'll have to pick up the pace."

"Fine by me."

The two walked faster through the snow. The mansion was visible in the distance. Daisy was happy to feel like she was going on an adventure, even if it took place a few miles away from The Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi was nervous that the shadow could somehow reach Daisy and put her in danger, but it was only visible to him. There was no way that it could appear to Daisy. He was nervous, but he was happy at the same time. Another person was here with him, happy to give company when he almost desperately wanted it. Confused, nervous, and happy, Luigi led Daisy to his humble abode.

* * *

The fire crackled as Luigi warmed his hands. He winced back, scared that a flame would reach out to him. Daisy kept her sweater tied around her waist and walked into the library. She sat next to Luigi and handed him a small cup of hot cocoa. He looked down and smiled. "Five marshmallows. I don't ask weird questions for anything, you know." Daisy giggled. She set her cup down after she took a quick sip.

"We're going to be here for a while." Luigi mumbled.

"I'm not one to catch cabin fever."

"Neither am I."

The fire popped and Daisy gave a slanted smile. "Cool." They both remained quiet for a few moments. Daisy kept her eyes on the fire, wondering what Peach was doing right now. She was probably overreacting. Daisy was fine, but Peach didn't know that. Possibly, the phone lines connected to The Mushroom Kingdom and Daisy could call, but the snow would interfere. _Oh well, _Daisy sighed. She looked deeper into the fire, watching it shift every which-way. It reminded her of people dancing and that reminded her of the same night she never wanted to forget. The very night she had met Luigi.

* * *

_The ballroom was filled with the sounds of laughter and people were dancing to the smooth symphony. Still a young adolescent, Daisy didn't want to be here at all. She wanted to be at home, with her father, but of course, he wanted her to get to know people outside of the kingdom. She apparently never met with her father's requirements._

_The balcony was empty, but there was a strange sense of someone approaching her. A young man, about her age, walked closer to her. She did not move an inch. _

"_Princess Daisy, is it?" _

"_Yes."_

"_I just wanted to say…hello."_

"_Well, hello."_

"…"

"_Is something wrong?"_

"_No, no…not at all…it's just…"_

"_It's just what?"_

"_Y-you look…beautiful."_

"…_Why thank you, kind sir."_

"_P-please…call me Luigi."_

"_Thank you, Luigi. I doubted that anyone would call me that, since the people here have such high standards."_

"_Well, you look fine to me…I'm sorry."_

"_For what?"_

"_For just saying that…to you…I didn't mean to…well, I did, but…never mind."_

"_No, Luigi, it's fine…honest. It's nice to know that someone here doesn't have high standards."_

"_You're welcome."_

"…_To be honest, __I didn't really want to come here and now that I am, well, it's pretty boring."_

"_It's not…if you have someone to dance with."_

"…_What?"_

"_A new song is playing…the night is still young…you look amazing…w-would you like to dance?"_

"…_Yes, I suppose I would love to."_

* * *

**And that was chapter 4! I promised I would have it up soon and here it is! Hehe, I have more time to work on my stories now. Anyhoo, not much to say on this. I hope the parts that are memories are easy to understand, but I don't know. I think I did good with this chapter too. I'm trying to improve my writing on my own, but it's still a little rusty. **

**Click my profile for more stories by me! Leave a comment, review, favorite, follow, PM me if you want to know anything, and I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I know I don't put author's notes in the beginning, but since I thought about this earlier, I realized that I should have put this chapter AND chapter 4 out at the same time for it to make general sense. One last thing: If something is not fully explained in one chapter, then expect it to be fully explained in another. Just trust me that I won't leave anything completely unexplained. Except for a few convenient parts. Don't read too deep into the bird part in this chapter. **

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Pacing back and forth, Princess Peach felt a strange wave of nervousness hit her. She held a scarf in her hand, as if she were to put it on, but there was no use. The snow had locked the castle doors, making it almost impossible to escape and there was no possible way that Peach would jump out of a window into the freezing cold. Mario tried to stay close to comfort her, but he was always horrible at comforting people. The last time he tried to comfort someone was when Luigi came home terribly sick. After he had calmed down, Mario grabbed a broom and tapped Luigi on the shoulder simply muttering, "There…there." Consoling someone was never something that the plumber had learned to do, but no one could blame him for not trying.

"Her father will have me hanged." Peach's eyes were wide and her pupils were dilated into tiny, black specs. "She was my responsibility and now she's gone miles away from the kingdom." The princess spoke quickly, not leaving much of a pause to breathe. "Miles away from the kingdom to who-knows-where. Possibly back to Sarsaland, or maybe she's been kidnapped. No, Daisy wouldn't let that happen; she's Daisy. But, it's happened before…maybe it happened again. NO!" Peach turned to face Mario, who backed away from the princess. "She's with Luigi, he'll protect her. Wait…she's with Luigi…Luigi…He'll let her get eaten alive! The poor boy can only handle so much excitement! It'll take years to find them again and who knows what they'll do during those years! They'll probably lose an arm, or a leg…or an eye! What if they die, Mario? What if they…" The princess gasped and lowered her voice, "What if they do something…drastic?"

"Like what…?" Mario was a safe distance away from her.

"I don't know, just…something!" Peach gasped again and covered her mouth with her hand. "Then the king will have both me AND Luigi hanged! Then the kingdom will fall into ruins! RUINS!" Peach knelt to Mario and cried in his arms. He gulped and managed to embrace her.

Peach moved her head away from his chest and looked deep into his eyes. She suddenly kissed him, tenderly, but quickly. She muttered a "sorry" and moved away from his glance. Mario gently turned her head back to his. "I'm sure that everything will be fine…" He gave her small smile and they kissed once more. A relieving sense passed through the princess. Happy to be in her hero's arms, she let the sense of passion tower over her overwhelming sense of fear.

* * *

Toadette sat down in her favorite chair in her favorite room – the playroom. The playroom has been empty for years now since the princess was much older. The room was filled with small toys and items of sorts. In the middle of the room, there was an old rocking chair that Toadette loved to sit on and just let her problems slip away, or at least pretend they would slip away. Faced with reality, Toadette sat down on the rocking chair and stared out the window. There was nothing interesting to look at, but this is what one would do to show they were deep in thought or extremely angry. Toadette was both deep in thought and extremely angry. Toad walked into the room with his head down. "I don't think that we can find her. She's gone wherever Luigi was going."

"I seriously can't believe that Daisy would just prance off like that." Toadette snapped. "Leaving me here while she's doing who-knows-what."

"But she'll come back. The snow will eventually melt."

Toadette sighed. "But not fast enough. The only way that Daisy will move is if her dad ordered her to." She bit her lip with the thought of an idea. "Hey, Toad?"

Toad looked up at her and beamed. Toadette jumped down from the rocking chair and smiled. "Do you know the fastest way to send mail?"

"Yeah. You have to attach it to a bird and…Why?"

Toadette snapped her fingers and gave Toad a quick peck on the cheek. "No reason!" She mused and skipped out of the room.

Laughing to herself, Toadette quickly scribbled a small letter to the king. Rolling the note neatly, she found a small string. She opened the window. A strong gust of cold wind blew into the room. Toadette paid no mind to it and whistled for a bird. The only birds that didn't migrate to Sarsaland for the winter were the white doves that didn't mind the cold weather and dense snowfall. One happily flew into the room and landed properly on a desk. Toadette attached the note to the bird with the small string and let it fly out the window, giving it specific directions to Sarsaland.

* * *

The day passed by quickly, even though Daisy and Luigi barely did anything at all. Daisy tried to explore most of the mansion, but got lost easily. Luigi didn't seem annoyed to give her a quick tour, but he didn't seem like he was in the mood to talk either. Daisy tried her best to at least get some information out of him, but he didn't say much. Daisy realized that Peach was right. Luigi wasn't the same, even though he barely said anything before. Daisy finally sat herself down in the master bedroom and looked in the mirror. The vanity was strangely already covered with brushes, hairspray, and headbands that looked as if they weren't touched in years. Daisy stood up and opened the curtains, hoping to see some sunlight. Instead, the window was broken. A cold wind blew in and Daisy closed the curtains. "Why didn't he patch this up," She thought aloud, "No wonder the whole room has such a draft."

Daisy stepped out of the master bedroom and met with Luigi back at the library. "Hey," She walked in gracefully.

"Hi." Luigi still sounded as if he wasn't in the mood to talk. Daisy still tried to talk to him, but her efforts were for nothing since he still wouldn't respond. After a while, the princess gave up and claimed that she was going to bed. With a tired glance, Luigi nodded and led her to the guest room on the second floor.

Returning back to the library, Luigi reached for a book on one of the shelves. It was a purple book with fragile, yellow pages. The title was hard to see, but Luigi knew it was the book he was looking for. He opened to one of the pages and scanned over it.

The library suddenly went dark. "Not now…" Luigi whimpered. Black mist surrounded Luigi making him freeze in place. The book in front of him slammed shut and the shadow figure appeared once again.

"Now you rely on magic?" It asked.

Luigi did not reply.

"Dark magic, too. You must really want to sell your soul."

"I…I just want to make things right." Luigi's voice faded with every word.

"Of course you do. But I'm afraid that can't happen." The shadow walked closer to its counterpart. "You see, the girl fears you. She thinks you are nothing but a lunatic. Must I remind you of what you did before?" Mr. L gestured to the other side of the room that was now a different place all together. There were two people, a young woman and a young man. They looked too familiar and Luigi turned back to face Mr. L. "The very night you thought you fell in love. Do you remember that, Luigi?"

Luigi looked back at the two. The young princess dressed in an orange dress and Luigi immediately recognized her as Daisy. The young man, however, looked a lot like Luigi when he was younger, but they looked so different. One looked happy and a little shy while the other looked restless and pale. The two adolescents began to speak among themselves. Luigi could recite almost every word.

"_Do you suppose that the stars in the sky have one person controlling them, Luigi?"_

"_Maybe…or maybe…maybe the stars watch us, like guardians."_

"_Like guardians..."_

_The two sat in silence as the clock tower deep in the kingdom sounded. Daisy stood straight and locked eyes with Luigi._

"_It's midnight, I should go."_

"_W-when can I see you again?"_

"…_I don't know."_

_Luigi took a necklace out from his pocket and hooked it around Daisy's neck gently. _

"_What's this?"_

"_My mother's necklace…Just…just in case we don't see each other again."_

"_I promise I won't lose it, Luigi."_

_They passionately locked lips for a few brief moments, but it didn't last. The two went their separate ways and the clock tower rung one last time. _

Luigi felt his heart race. He turned back to face Mr. L. "Why are you doing this?" Luigi glared at him.

Mr. L smirked and gestured back to the other side of the room. Luigi turned around and gasped.

"_No, Daisy…just go."_

"_But…"_

"_Now."_

"_Luigi…"_

"_Now!"_

Luigi noticed that Daisy's neck was bare. The necklace that he had given to her was gone.

"_Luigi…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lose it…please come back…"_

The young Princess Daisy knelt to the ground by the river. The young Luigi was walking farther and farther away from her. Luigi gulped and walked into the memory. The princess didn't notice him and dug her face in her hands, crying softly. Luigi knelt before her. "I didn't mean to make you cry…I just…" He tried to rest his hand on her shoulder, but it went right through her glowing body. The clock tower's bell began to ring, signaling that the midnight hour has begun. With every earth-shattering bong, the memory began to fade. Daisy's glowing body faded before Luigi's eyes. He tried to hold her, but the bell struck once more and the memory had faded and disappeared in time. Luigi looked over at Mr. L who was holding a smirk and had his arms crossed over his chest.

"Who knew that a simple swim in the river could lead to such tragedy?" Mr. L rested his head on his palm and said in a sarcastic tone. He chuckled evilly. Luigi shot up and clenched his fist. "You see why she fears you now? She thinks that whatever she does will never be accepted by you and _that_ is the epitome of fear."

"I didn't mean to hurt her, I just got upset."

"Upset? You left her alone in the darkness. If it were I that was there, she wouldn't know what the meaning of being alone was."

Luigi glared at him, "What are you saying?"

Mr. L smirked as the black mist began to fade away. Luigi walked closer to him. "What are you saying?!" The figure of him began to fade away as Luigi growled. "What the hell do you want from me?" The darkness that filled the library lifted as the fire was lit again. Luigi looked at the grandfather clock and noticed that it was ten o'clock. He breathed heavily and his hands trembled. As tired as he was, Luigi didn't have the nerve to sleep.

* * *

The king of Sarsaland was staring blankly at a piece of paper. He tried to make mental calculations, but he was tired which made his mind weak. He sighed and gathered papers together in a neat pile. "Daisy, please get uhh…a glass of water," He called through the open door. No one responded. "Oh, wait, she's in The Mushroom Kingdom. Right, right…"

A white dove began to peck at the window. The king looked back at it and it pecked at the corner once again. Trudging over to the window, the king opened it and let the bird fly in. He noticed the note tied carefully around its neck. "A message? Unusual way to communicate, but at least it's not _snail mail._" The king snickered. The bird chirped a sigh. "Okay, I'll just read the message."

_I have important news for your highness:_

_Princess Daisy has left Mushroom Castle to travel with another man to the farthest part of the kingdom. Everyone fears that she may be in danger. I hope that you can do something since we are locked in the castle due to the snow storm. _

_-Toadette_

The king read the second sentence again.

_Princess Daisy has left Mushroom Castle to travel with another man…_

…_left Mushroom Castle to travel with another man…_

…_travel with another man…_

…_another man…_

"SOMEBODY GET MY COAT!"

* * *

**And that was chapter 5! WOOOOP! *does the wave with self, forever alone* **

**I hope that the middle of this chapter with the whole memory part makes sense and follows with the beginning of chapter 4. It was meant to come out at the same time and now since that both chapters are out, it should make some more sense. **

**My apologies for whoever was incredibly pissed at me for putting the memory in the beginning of the last chapter. **

**I did try to put some sort of humor in here, but I have no idea if it worked or not. You tell me. **

**I think I did the whole "Mr. L shows Luigi the past" thing too much like A Christmas Carol. You know, where Scrooge meets the ghosts and they show him memories or the furture. I was going to have Mr. L show him the future (and for those who read Buffering, you would get the whole furture part since that's what he would show him) but I thought that would be too much for one chapter. **

**I'm going to be releasing two chapters at a time now, so be happy, but it'll take longer and each chapter may be shorter since I try to keep it at least 2,000 words. We'll see...we'll see.**

**Click my profile for more stories by me! Leave a comment, review, favorite, follow, PM me if you want to know anything, and I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

There was never any doubt that Mr. L left quite the impact on Luigi's sanity. He would always say one thing, which would lead to another, and always come out on top. He basically had the last laugh, even though he wasn't quite free of Luigi's mind yet. They both shared the same thoughts, they both shared the same sense of pain, and they both shared the same sudden interest. Luigi did notice this, but he didn't want to believe it. He had warned Daisy that she would get hurt, but she just wouldn't listen. He had to make sure that he kept his distance.

"Good morning, Luigi!" Daisy mused, "I hope you don't mind, but I found a new dress in the wardrobe room and I sorta borrowed it."

Luigi walked out of the library with Daisy at his side. "It's fine." Daisy kept a smile on her face and twirled around in the long, yellow dress. One of the thin straps slipped down to her shoulder as she danced around the halls. "You're...pretty energetic today." Luigi tried his best not to stare.

"I am!" Daisy giggled. "I'm not sure why, but I just feel happy today." She stopped in front of him. "I guess I never thanked you."

"Thanked me...for what?"

She stepped closer. "For letting me stay here."

He shrugged. "It's n-nothing. I can't just let you freeze out there." _But you left her once before,_ Mr. L's voice sounded in the back of Luigi's head, _She thought you would do it again._

"I'm glad you didn't." She put a hand on his chest. He groaned and moved her hand away from him. She looked back at him with a confused glare. "Is something wrong?"

_Yes, in fact, Luigi wants to destroy you. Heh. _"No," Luigi held her hand gently, "Everything's fine."

"Great!" Daisy spun around once more. "You know, I think I know why I'm so happy today."

"Why?"

"It's Christmas!" Daisy cheered. "And believe it or not, I have a gift for you. Meet me in the library in ten!" She ran back into the guest room.

Luigi froze. Christmas? Already? He didn't have anything for Daisy and all the jewels that were once in the mansion were practically given away to Peach for charity. He needed to think fast. He ran back into the library and was greeted by Mr. L's taunting smirk.

"You hear that, Lue? Christmas." Mr. L circled around him, "You don't have anything for the girl, do you?" Luigi shook his head. "Well, it's high time you use that hint of yours: Go to the broken door."

"But there are no broken doors!" Mr. L disappeared as Luigi was left alone in the library to ponder the riddle. There were no broken doors in the mansion, but there was a fake door in the hall. If you opened it, it would lead you to a blank wall. Luigi ran out of the library and opened the false door. Nothing. Luigi sighed and returned to the library empty-handed.

"Did you check the broken door?" Mr. L asked while sitting on the desk.

"Yes."

"Nothing?"

"No."

"Oh well. I tried. But I did see a certain princess get the treasure behind it before you."

"What?"

Mr. L was gone and Daisy entered the library with her hands behind her back. She walked up to Luigi. "You want to go first?"

Luigi shook his head. "You...you can go first."

Daisy took a deep breath and put her hand out. "I know that you're probably still really mad at me for what happened a while ago, but I promised I wouldn't lose it." A gold necklace with a small diamond in the middle sparkled in Daisy's hand.

Luigi blinked and smiled. "Y-you found it."

"I found it in the river by our castle's garden. I was so happy when I did but," She gave it to him, "Keep it."

He stepped closer to her and refused. "Mom would want you to have it." He hooked it around Daisy's neck and it still fit her perfectly. She smiled and wrapped him in her arms. He embraced her, but suddenly realized that he still didn't have a gift for her.

"So," Daisy moved away from the hug, "What now?"

Luigi looked around the room. "I think the tradition is that I am supposed to give you a gift."

"I think so." Daisy happily played along.

He couldn't find anything in the room and he didn't want to seem rude. One thing came to mind.

"I...I have something for you." He met with her eyes and she began to blush. Luigi could see Mr. L out of the corner of his eye. Mr. L shook his head, signaling for him not to do it. Building up the courage, Luigi grabbed Daisy by the shoulders and kissed her. Daisy, startled by this, felt her heart pound as her chest pressed up against his. His hands slowly moved down from her shoulders. Luigi didn't intend for the kiss to last for more than a few seconds, but he found himself actually enjoying the sense of passion and lust that ran through his body. However, he gently forced himself away from her and gulped.

Daisy blinked twice. "Whoa..." She backed away slowly, "I'm gonna...I'm gonna..."

"Yeah...y-you do that..."

She giggled and almost tripped on her away out. "Heh, gravity." She straightened herself out and headed over to the kitchen.

Luigi turned around and was face-to-face with Mr. L. He backed away as Mr. L stepped closer. "You can't hold a grudge, can you? You're pathetic. Worthless piece of nothing!"

"She changed."

"Oh, did she? Might I remind you that she is the same girl who fears you?"

"She doesn't fear me."

"And how do you know?"

"Well...she, she doesn't cower when I'm around her, like other people do."

"And?"

"She doesn't yell at me."

"And?"

"She cares."

"But that doesn't mean that she doesn't fear you! You're crazy if you think that she actually likes you. You're nothing to her."

Luigi backed up against a wall. Mr. L glared at him and clenched his fist as if he were about to hit him. "H-how would you know?"

Mr. L scoffed and turned back to the desk. He took a piece of paper. "Because if I do this, she won't care." He slit the palm of his hand and closed his fist. The blood began to drip out of his hand. Luigi whimpered in pain, for his hand was slit too. Mr. L disappeared and Luigi ran out of the library. He barged into the kitchen and opened the drawers frantically.

Daisy stared at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing...nothing..."

"What do you need?"

"Bandage." He slammed the drawer closed.

Daisy walked up to him with some ripped cloth from the dress she was wearing. "Where's the damage?"

Luigi opened his fist slowly, wincing back in pain. Daisy took his hand gently and wrapped the cloth around it. He tried his best not cringe. Daisy tied a small knot with the cloth and let his hand go. "Better?"

He nodded. "Thanks." He noticed the tear at the bottom of Daisy's dress. "You didn't need to..."

"It's okay," She insisted, "It's nothing too big."

They both held each other's eyes for a moment and smiled. Daisy stood closer to him, daring herself to lean in closer as well. Luigi moved his hand to her shoulder. He could see a black mist out of the corner of his eye. _Don't pay attention,_ he thought, _don't pay attention. _The mist suddenly formed into an arm and threw a pan to the ground. The two jumped, losing the mood of the moment.

Daisy walked over to pick the pan up. "That's...weird. It was hooked up on the rack."

"M-m-must have been one heck of a wind." Luigi laughed nervously and ran out the kitchen. Daisy stared at him confusedly. Was he possibly hiding something?

* * *

The castle doors opened and snow flooded most of the hall. The king of Sarsaland barged in and threw the ram to the ground.

"WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER?!" The king boomed.

Princess Peach, Mario, Toad, Toadette, and Toadsworth walked into the hall. The ram bounced off the ground and slammed into Mario's leg.

"My rug!" Peach gasped.

"My doors!" Toadsworth exclaimed.

"MY LEG!" Mario cried, holding his knee close to his chest.

"My eyes!" Toad hissed as the sunlight shone through.

"My luck!" Toadette clapped.

The king stormed over to Toadette. "Where did she go?"

Toadette stepped up to the king, "To a mansion FAR on the other side of the kingdom, with a guy. She's been locked in there for three days, with a guy. She hasn't been able to contact us, even though she's far away...did I mention that she's also with a guy?"

The king nodded. "And who exactly is this 'guy'?"

Mario groaned. "My brother!"

"And he is...?"

"Luigi!"

"Who looks like...?"

"Blue eyes, green shirt, brown hair, mustache, tall, thin..."

"Have I seen him before?"

Toadette tugged on the king's sleeve. "Yes, when he was over to meet you."

"Is he the one that tried to propose to her?"

"No, that was another tall, skinny, man-with-a-mustache."

"He wore purple, right?"

"Yep."

"And this one wears green?"

"Yep."

The king nodded and turned back towards the debris of the doors. "Farthest part of the kingdom. Okay, let's head out!" The king began to march out of the castle, but then stopped before the mountain of snow. "How exactly do we get there?"

Toadette shrugged. Mario hopped over to them. "I could show you."

The king turned around and smiled. "RED! I remember you!"

"But not my name..." Mario coughed. "I can take you to the mansion."

"Good! Then let's be on our way!" The three marched out of the castle and climbed the mountain of snow before them. Toadette was happy to be able to find Daisy again and be reunited, Mario's leg was still in pain, and the king prepared to teach whoever this "guy" was a lesson for messing with his daughter. Toadsworth and Peach, however, had lots of work to do.

"It'll take forever to get the snow out of that rug." Peach sighed.

"It'll take forever to repair those doors." Toadsworth grumbled.

* * *

**And that was Chapter 6! Chapter 7 should be up if you're reading this. My apologies if anything in those two chapters are mispelled. I was in a serious rush and my proofreading skills aren't great without my glasses. **

**HOLY SNAP! PICK-IT HAS GLASSES! Yes, I know, I'm a nerd, hardy-har. **

**Can you tell us what you look like, since you told us you had glasses? Nope.**

**DARN IT! Get used to disapointment, darling. **

**Click my profile for more stories by me! Leave a comment, review, favorite, follow, PM me if you want to know anything, and I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"What did you do that for?" Luigi stared into the mirror. Instead of his reflection, Mr. L was behind the glass, giving his taunting smirk. "Are you upset?"

"Me? Upset? No." Mr. L scoffed, "It's the simple matter that you went too far."

"Too far with what?"

Mr. L changed the subject. "I see that she patched you up."

Luigi looked at his hand. The cloth had some blood on it, but it worked well. "I told you she cares."

"Of course she does." Mr. L laughed.

"What do you want?" Mr. L stared at him with his white eyes. Luigi repeated himself, but louder. "What do you want from me?!"

"There's no use in getting angry, Luigi. I am you and you are me. You're simply getting mad at yourself."

"You're nothing like me."

"Since when did you get so brave? What are you hiding, Luigi?" Mr. L began to smile, "Is there something that I'm interrupting? Are you keeping something from the world?" Luigi narrowed his eyes, pushing his hands down on the sink's rim. "Do you think that you could keep a secret for so long? I know what you want and guess what...I want it too. There is no use in trying to stop me, Luigi. If I want something, then I'll take it and nobody dares to stop me."

Luigi licked his lips. He didn't know how to respond. He couldn't understand what exactly Mr. L was after, but there was no time to find out now. Mr. L had disappeared and left Luigi alone with his reflection. Luigi stared at the man in the mirror. He was pale, sweating, tired, trembling, and looked nervous as all hell. Mr. L was better when he didn't speak.

Daisy stood outside the bathroom door, intrigued by the conversation going on behind the door. She had heard only the bit of one man's sentence and that was followed by Luigi's heavy breathing. He was indeed hiding something, but what? She kept her ear close to the door, hoping to hear more of the conversation.

Luigi turned around, startled by Mr. L sudden shadowy appearance. "Is there a problem, Luigi?"

"Leave me alone."

"And if I refuse?"

Luigi punched the area where Mr. L's face was, but his fist went straight through. "You think you're such a smartass." Luigi growled.

"Because I am." Mr. L appeared behind him. Luigi threw another punch once again, with his injured hand. Mr. L faded and Luigi's fist slammed into the mirror. It shattered into dozens of sharp pieces.

Daisy gasped at the sound of the mirror breaking, but she refused to let herself barge in.

Luigi shouted in pain and held his hand tightly. He backed away from the broken mirror. His eyes began to swell up with tears. Mr. L stood behind him. "Did I hurt your little hand?" Luigi noticed that Mr. L's hand was bleeding as well. Luigi twitched and tried to punch Mr. L once again. He missed, grabbing the shower curtains by accident. He fidgeted and squirmed around, making the curtain fall with him. He landed on the ground, holding his hand in pain, and crying. He put his head in his knees and sat down next to the shower, with the curtain wrinkled on the ground.

Daisy couldn't stand still. She opened the door and walked in. She gasped and knelt to Luigi, putting her arms around him. "What happened? Are you hurt? What happened?!"

"I...I...I..." Luigi couldn't speak, but Daisy tried to console him. She sat close to him and rubbed his shoulder, begging him to tell her what happened. He finally took a breath and looked up at her. "I...I'm insane."

"How?"

"I see things...I hear...I hear things...voices that don't belong to me. It drives me crazy...then I change...I become violent...I want to hurt him...so badly."

"Hurt who?"

Luigi rubbed his eyes. "Him."

Daisy leaned in closer. "Who? Hurt who?"

He straightened out his legs and Daisy rested her head on his shoulder. He held her close, afraid to tell the story, but he did. He told her everything from being Mr. L to seeing him everyday and hearing his voice. She gasped at some parts, surprised to hear that Luigi did in fact go through some changes, but not for the better. She listened well and took everything seriously. Once Luigi finished, there was a silence in the room. Daisy stared at the broken pieces of the mirror. She didn't know what to say, but now, everything made sense. The reason Luigi didn't want Daisy to come to the mansion. The reason Luigi was being so quiet. The reason the pan fell down from the rack. The reason Luigi was on the ground, crying, in the bathroom. It all made sense now.

"Now I suppose you're going to avoid me for as long as you can, huh?" Luigi assumed.

Daisy met with his glaze and shook her head. "No."

"But...y-you don't...you're not scared of me?"

She shook her head again and spoke softly. "I understand why you're doing this and I have to say...I'm proud of you. I'm proud to know that you're trying to do the right thing when you're practically going against yourself. I would never be scared of you. Never think like that." They held each other for a few solitary moments.

* * *

The king, Mario, and Toadette reached the mansion on the farthest part of the kingdom. Mario covered his eyes from the sun. "The mansion should be over there."

Toadette looked in the direction Mario pointed to. The door was blocked by a mountain of snow. Toadette sighed. "How are we going to get in there? It's blocked."

"Well," The king looked up at the windows, "We could try the windows."

Mario walked over to the doors. Toadette and the king began to argue.

"But how are we going to get up there?"

"We use the snow and just pile it up more, of course."

"But that won't work."

"Yes it will."

"How are we going to break into the window?"

Mario unscrewed one of the visible hinges of the front doors.

"We use a rock. Or break it open with a stick."

"A stick?"

"Yes. A very large stick."

Toadette slammed her palm on her forehead. The king shrugged. "Well, what did you have in mind?"

Mario kicked the edge of the door, making it bend and eventually break off. With the edge of the door broken off, Mario could jump down into the mansion.

"We could just use a back door or something." Toadette suggested.

"I disagree. The back doors would be blocked as well."

"Then how do we get in?"

"I told you already." The king looked around for a "very large stick". Toadette sighed once more and turned back to the doors. She tugged on the king's sleeve and led him to the hole in the doors.

Daisy strode into the foyer. Mario walked over to her. "Mario? How did you..."

Mario pointed to the hole in the doors. They both snickered. "Do you think you can open the doors?" He asked.

Daisy nodded and opened the doors. The snow rolled in and spread over the foyer. Toadette and the king tumbled in."Daddy?" Daisy helped the king up.

They hugged each other. "I'm so glad you're alright!" The king took Daisy's hand and turned back to the doors. "Okay, I believe now's a good time to leave."

"Leave?" Daisy stepped back.

"Well, yeah." Toadette scoffed, "You had everyone thinking that something bad happened. After all, you left the castle to go somewhere with a guy."

"And that guy is my brother." Mario added.

"But, I'm fine." Daisy insisted, "I'm fine, honest."

The king ignored her. "Speaking of him, where is he?"

"Daddy," Then everyone began arguing over who did what and what happened to who. The king demanded to know who was behind all this mess when Luigi walked down the stairs.

Luigi looked around foyer. He said nothing; he did nothing. The king zeroed in on Luigi and snapped. "And you are?!"

"L-L-Luigi..."

"And what makes you think that you have the right to take my daughter, Princess Daisy, to this kind of place in the middle of the freezing cold?"

"Nothing, s-sir."

"Then why did you do it?"

"S-she wanted to..."

"Wait a minute...I remember you..." The king circled around Luigi. "You're the same boy who danced with her, aren't you?"

"Daddy," Daisy tried to pull everything to a halt, "I can explain."

The king continued. "You were the one who kissed her."

"How would you know?" Daisy snapped.

Toadette smirked. "Kiss and tell."

"You've got a lot of explaining to do, buddy." The king crossed his arms and glared at Luigi. "I'd do it now."

Luigi gulped. His nerves got the best of him and he was speechless. Everyone stared at him. Mr. L sounded in the back of his head. _Come on, buddy. Explain yourself and say something extra. Like, "you suck, king-guy!" or "the babe is mine!" or "hasta la vista, baby." _Luigi took a deep breath and ran his little speech through his mind, but Daisy broke the silence.

"Listen to me, Daddy." She said, "I wanted to know where Luigi was going, so I followed him here. We got locked in and just stayed in here. We didn't do anything, I swear."

The king looked back at Luigi. "Is this true?"

Luigi nodded. "The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

Still skeptical, the king turned back to Daisy. "Come on, child." He took her hand and made his way back to the mountain of snow. Daisy refused and moved her hand away.

"I want to stay here." She stated.

The king looked back at her. "What?"

"I want to stay."

"You can't."

"Why?"

Luigi took Daisy's hand. "You have a kingdom to run," He said, "It's better off if you go."

"But..."

"Daisy, go."

"Luigi..."

He briskly touched the diamond on the necklace. "Keep it with you, if we don't see each other again." They both smiled and the king called for his daughter once again. Daisy ran off to her father. Toadette and Mario followed after them, leaving Luigi in silence.

* * *

**The end of chapter 7! Chapters 8 & 9 should be up in a little while, so hold your complaints if you want it NOW, because I'm not going to read them anyway.**

**Just a small side-note: The story is coming to a close, my friends. Since I usually ask some sort of question at the end, I'm mixing it up here because this is a prequel to Buffering, which is already out and completed. For those who already read that first, you know what will happen, so there's no use in asking the question. However, for those who haven't read Buffering, once this story ends, a new one begins. It's up to you if you'll read it or not.**

**Again: My apologies if these two chapters felt incredibly rushed and turned out bad. I would bash myself for these two, but you can do that for me. I promise that Chapters 8 & 9 will be better, if not, a little less rushed. **

**Click my profile for more stories by me! Leave a comment, review, favorite, follow, PM me if you want to know anything, and I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The castle was just being cleared of snow. A path was now visible and the top layer of snow had melted. The sun was shining brighter than before. Daisy trudged back to the castle with her father next to her, explaining right and wrong. Daisy had heard the speech at least ten times before and almost said a few lines before her father did. Daisy occasionally gave Toadette the evil eye to which Toadette didn't respond. _It was an act of kindness,_ Toadette had said, _I was looking out for your well being. _Daisy huffed and kept walking.

Princess Peach and Toadsworth both walked out. Peach hugged Daisy tightly. "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!"

Daisy pushed Peach off, not in the mood to really talk. "I didn't die, okay?" She walked up to her guest room and prepared to leave. Peach followed her, trying to make sense of everything.

"Daisy,"

"What?" Daisy snapped.

"Is something…"

Daisy turned around sharply, "Is something wrong? Is that what you're going to ask?" She hissed, "Well, no. Everything's just fine. I'm going home and probably never come back." She threw a shirt into the luggage. She mumbled under her breath, "This adventure sucks."

"You're going to come back," Peach reassured, "Just not now, but soon."

"Sure." Daisy snapped the luggage closed. "I'll see you in a year." She stormed out of the room.

"Daisy!"

With a frown on her face, Daisy stormed back to her father. The king bid a farewell to everyone and the three were on their way.

Peach sighed. "I wonder…"

Mario looked over at her. "Wonder what?"

"No, it's just that Daisy…I think she's upset about something."

Mario couldn't hold it back. "No." He said in a sarcastic voice.

Peach glared at him and he put his hands up in surrender. She continued on, "Do you suppose that she may have been upset about leaving…Luigi?" Mario did not reply. "Has she possibly…fallen for him?" Mario dare not speak. "Has she always had that necklace on?" Mario bit his tongue. "Did he possibly give it to her?"

"I'll be right back." And Mario ran off towards the mansion, hungry for answers.

* * *

Once Daisy, Toadette, and the king reached the train station, they were surprised to see it packed. People looked like little blurs brushing past other blurs. Daisy sat down and rested her head on her hand. Waiting for the train seemed like such a long time and Daisy almost had the nerve to run back to the mansion.

_The train stopped before the three and opened its doors. Daisy took a deep breath and stood up. Toadette and the king entered the train first, but Daisy barely moved an inch. Suddenly, someone called her name. _

"_DAISY!"_

_Assuming it was Peach, Daisy sighed, but turned around. Surprisingly, she was greeted by him. "Luigi? What are you…?"_

"_I couldn't leave you," He took her hands, "I want to be with you."_

_Daisy began to smile. "Are you serious? You…you want to come with me?"_

"_Of course!" He beamed. "I love you."_

_Daisy's eyes widened. She was taken aback by his words, but her father stepped down from the train. "I'm afraid she has to go."_

"_Then I'll come along." Luigi stated firmly. _

_Daisy stepped towards her father. "Please, Daddy."_

_The king pondered this for a moment. Luigi stepped back into the conversation. "We're in love, your highness. All I ask is that I can stay close to her."_

_The king sighed. "Very well. But instead of coming with us, I suppose I'll allow Daisy to stay with you."_

_Daisy gasped, "Daddy?"_

"_I'm sure of this, sweetheart." He confirmed. _

_She turned back to Luigi. "This is too good to be true!"_

"_And it'll only get better." He said suavely. They leaned into each other once more. Daisy felt her heart beat faster just for this moment. Just for one, single, passionate, kiss._

_The train behind them roared to life as the steam rose up from the ground. _

Daisy coughed and snapped back to reality. Her daydream was obviously too good to be true. So why did she believe every single minute of it?

Moving on from that, Daisy stepped onto the train that had just arrived. She sat away from her father and Toadette. Her father paid no mind to her strange behavior, but Toadette glanced at the floor. The train roared to life once again and began to move. Daisy looked outside the window, breathing on the glass. It fogged up and appeared as a circle. She sniffled and made two eyes and a nose. _I think he's missing something, _she could hear Luigi's voice say. She drew in a smile and tried to smile herself. The train rode past the mansion at the exact moment. Daisy sighed again. She began to play around with the diamond on her necklace.

* * *

Luigi watched the train drive by on the tracks. He was alone again, but he had work to do. The snow still covered the entire foyer and the doors were broken. It would take weeks to repair by himself.

"Dude."

Luigi looked up as Mario slid down the mountain of snow. "You need a hand?"

"Yes," He replied matter-of-factly, "I need at least ten."

They both laughed awkwardly and began to clean up the foyer. Mario pricked his finger on one of the fire flowers nearby and began to melt the snow. Luigi patched the hole in the door and screwed the hinge back in. It was comforting to see the brothers work together again, but good things never last long.

"So," Mario put out the fire emanating from his hands, "What did you do?"

Luigi glued the block of wood onto the door's edge. "What do you mean?"

"You know, with…with Daisy."

"Nothing of interest." Luigi replied quickly.

"You'll be surprised with what interests me." Mario laughed to himself. "But, what were you doing the entire time?"

"Nothing of interest." Luigi repeated.

"Then where did Daisy get mom's necklace from?"

There was an immediate pause. Silence quickly spread through the room. Mario knew he had his brother cornered, but the only thing that kept everything in suspense was how Luigi was going to answer him.

Luigi hesitated. He thought that maybe if he just ignored the question, Mario wouldn't bring it up again. Too embarrassed to respond, Luigi pricked his finger on the fire flower and summoned flames to surround his hand. "I'll get the snow. You get the door."

Mario expected something like this. He stared at his brother's covered hand. Another question popped into his head.

"What happened to your hand?"

Luigi glanced at his hand. The dress' cloth was still sturdily tied to his palm. His clenched his fist and directed his eyes back to the snow. "Nothing of…"

"Interest," Mario finished, "Okay, smart guy."

Mario and Luigi worked in silence for the next few, what seemed like prolonged, minutes. Once the snow was fully melted, along with a neat path that Luigi had leveled out, Mario screwed the hinge back on the door. Luigi closed the two doors and sighed. "I gave her the necklace before."

Mario looked up at him with confusion, but let him continue. "She lost it in a swim by the river a while ago and I snapped. I didn't think that anyone would find it again, but she did and…I let her keep it."

"Now what happened to your hand?"

Luigi untied the cloth around his hand and let the air caress the slit. It was bloody and unappealing, but he tried to cover it up with this fingers. "The shadow."

"Oh my…Can you get over that?"

Luigi glared at him. "I told it's real and now here's proof!"

"This is getting why out of hand, Luigi. Way out of hand." Mario opened the door. "You know where to find me if you need me."

"Stop!" But Mario was out the door and left his brother alone again. Luigi slammed the door and cursed at his brother mentally. "I don't need you, you little…"

There was no use in getting angry, but the rant seemed to have calmed Luigi down, just a little.

* * *

The shadow appeared later that night. Luigi was sitting on his bed, as if he were expecting it. He felt the bed shake as if someone had sat down. He looked next to him and sighed.

"Why do you taunt me?" Luigi turned away, hoping not to catch a glimpse of Mr. L's eyes.

"Always with the questions, Luigi." Mr. L retorted. Not leaving time for a response, he pushed on. "With every riddle…there comes an answer."

"Riddles are meant to be fun. Questions are meant to be answered. Now, answer me."

Mr. L stood up. Silence spread quickly through the room. He didn't look back at Luigi; he kept his eyes locked on a picture on top of Luigi's dresser. It was Mario, Peach, Daisy, and Luigi – all four of them – smiling and having fun. Mr. L held the picture in his hands, brushing his finger across the golden frame. He scratched a part of the picture and let it drop to the floor. The frame burst into pieces as the glass covered the area around the fallen picture. Luigi looked at the damage, but didn't speak.

"Fun." Mr. L repeated. He suddenly sounded sad, but Luigi didn't think that Mr. L could have emotions. "You want to know why I do this? You want to know the reason behind these appearances that make you go mad?"

Mr. L moved his eyes back towards his rival. Luigi was nodding slowly.

"For the fun of it." Mr. L laughed and walked dangerously close to Luigi, making him back up in fear. "I like to see you cower like you do, but the reason why I'm here now…has changed."

"To w-what?" Luigi began to tremble as Mr. L zeroed in on him.

Mr. L leaned back, straightening out his spine. He smiled and closed his fist in front of Luigi. Luigi looked back up at him, his blue eyes looking naturally innocent. Mr. L opened his fist as daisy petals unfolded from his grip. "The girl."

Luigi scowled at him. "She's not yours to keep."

He dropped the petals to the floor. "She's not yours to keep either, but that doesn't stop you…now does it?"

Mr. L walked back towards the picture. He picked it up, studying Daisy carefully. Luigi glanced at the floor, folding his hands together. "What do you think you're going to do?" Luigi heard himself say.

Mr. L looked back at him before scraping something on the picture with his finger. "Questions, Luigi. All the wrong questions."

"But not a single answer."

Mr. L stood still, ignoring his comment. "I'm going to do what I must."

"Not if I can stop it."

"You can't." Mr. L turned back to Luigi and laughed. "You don't have the guts."

Luigi looked up and sighed. "I don't…but you can't do anything to me. Whatever you do to me – to hurt me, to try to kill me – it will end up happening to you. If I die, you go with me."

"I'm aware of that, Luigi." Mr. L had a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Shame that I'm a part of the weakest thing on this planet."

Luigi tried his best to stay brave and it did pay off. He started to sound much like his brother and only because he wanted to protect Daisy.

"I cannot kill you in reality, sadly. However…" Mr. L began to smile again, "Your mind it easy to control. The more stress, the easier it is for me to have more effect in this world. Your dreams…your escape from reality…that is the only way I can dispose of you."

"Then if you want her," Luigi began, "You'll have to kill me first."

Mr. L began to fade away as he spoke. "If that what it takes."

The picture Mr. L was held fell to the floor. Luigi stood up and walked over to the broken pieces of glass. He picked them up, careful not to cut himself. As he picked up the picture, he dropped the glass to the floor.

Mario, Peach, and Daisy were still the same, but Luigi was scratched out of the picture, leaving only a white blob in his place.

* * *

**And that is chapter 8! This is practically the end of Play, but there is ONE more chapter for it to be a full circle that leads back to Buffering. And that chapter should be up...RIGHT NOW!**

**Along with final author's notes, special thanks, and credits. **

**Click my profile for more stories by me! Leave a comment, review, favorite, (there's no need to follow this story anymore, but you are welcome to follow my other stroies...or not, it's really up to you), PM me if you want to know anything, and I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Tatanga held his hands in a stereotypical villain position, probably to emphasize that he was in fact a villain. "Queen of the cosmos, huh? Well, you're mine now! Prepare to meet your demise!"

Rosalina was held captive in a bubble that Tatanga conjured up in less than five minutes. With his new plan set into action, he thought that there was no way he could ever be stopped. The cosmos was now in his hands and everyone would beg for him to set the princess free, but would he do it? NOPE! He was evil, after all, and since Wario thought he was a complete disgrace for his past failure in capturing the desert beauty, Princess Daisy, he was a free alien. He could do what he pleased, whenever he pleased…as long as he didn't see that red fellow again, whoever he was. Tatanga's new plan to rule the cosmos ran smoothly and since Rosalina did nothing to stop him, he was able to kidnap the princess with haste and lock her up efficiently.

"You're quiet." Tatanga whined, "It was funner when I kidnapped Daisy. At least she TRIED to put up a fight. You just gave up. What? Did someone die?"

Rosalina stood still, hiding her face with her elegant hair.

"No fun." Tatanga scowled and turned back to the beacon. "Well, when I bring this observatory down with the rest of your Llama buddies, then everyone will bow before me! I will be the ruler of everything from this universe to the next and no one can stop me! NO ONE!"

"They're called Lumas." A cosmic voice stated.

Tatanga turned around in confusion. He stared at the princess. "Did you say something?" A wand tapped him three times on the shoulder and a bubble appeared around him. "WHAT THE…"

Rosalina stood behind him with her arms crossed over her chest. "And 'funner' isn't a word."

"HOW DID YOU…?"

Rosalina gestured to the other bubble supposedly holding her. Lumas detached themselves from each other and the Rosalina-like figure became 10 different Lumas, ready for battle. Tatanga's jaw dropped. How could he have been fooled by such a thing?

Rosalina drew his attention back to her. "I'm afraid that you will have to go. Now."

"NO! PLEASE! I DIDN'T MEAN NOTHING! I WAS JUST HAVING SOME FUN! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"

A Luma growled and kicked the bubble Tatanga was in. He was sent flying towards the world's orbit, "CURSES," and he disappeared with a sparkle.

"May the stars shine down on him." Rosalina glared.

All the Lumas groaned. Rosalina made a vow to be nice to everyone, even if they were evil. If she sent a villian on his way, she at least said a decent good-bye.

* * *

Landing face down on the golden sand, Tatanga groaned. Maybe Wario was right. Maybe Tatanga _was_ a failure and there was no way that he could ever prove himself otherwise.

As he rose up from the sand and dusted himself off, he looked around the area that surrounded him. It looked strangely familiar. The golden sands led all the way to a castle in the distance. The castle looked familiar, too. He stood up straight and heightened his hearing. If he could recognize a voice, then he could tell where he was.

"Daisy, how many times have I told you to stay away from strange men?"

"At least three times Daddy."

"Do I have to tell you this again?"

"No, Daddy."

"Good. I'll be in my office then. Do not go anywhere and make sure Toadette is with you at all times."

"Okay…"

Tatanga began to smile. These two voices sounded familiar. So familiar that he knew exactly where he was. An idea began to sprout into his mind. He knew what to do to prove that he was truly evil. This plan would work so well, that he would go down in history. It would take months to plan, but if he worked out all the kinks, then the plan would effectively destroy everything. It was back to the drawing board, but with a grin on his face.

* * *

Months later, Luigi remained anti-social and in solitude. The mansion was the perfect refuge to dispose of Mr. L, but the only way to do that would be to sell his soul or…take his own life, which was absurd since Luigi dearly wanted to live and stay with a soul, but those were basically the only two options. Mr. L became more aggressive, but appeared less than when Daisy was around. Taking this as good news, Luigi tried his best to relax and avoid Mr. L at all costs.

One spring day, Luigi decided to take a walk around the kingdom. He would avoid most of the city and the castle, but the edge of the kingdom was fine. He didn't have the nerve to buy a train ticket, although he sorely wanted to. Daisy's father was probably still upset at him, but there was nothing he could do about it. The king knew what was best, he hoped.

Running down the stairs in a jacket, Luigi walked over to the doors. As he turned the knob, Mario pushed the door open. "Mario?"

Mario gave his brother a distressed look. "Luigi…listen…"

"What?"

"I just got the news," Mario walked into the foyer, "Something bad happened. No one saw it coming."

"W-what ha-happened?" Luigi began to get nervous. He had never seen Mario act this way before.

Mario turned back to face Luigi. "Sarsaland…it's under attack."

Luigi gasped. There was no telling how long this attack would last if the brothers didn't stop it. He didn't respond and ran back into his room. Taking out a briefcase, he ran back downstairs. With a heavy heart and a brave tone, Luigi looked back at his brother with determination.

"Let's go."

**To Be Continued...**

**In Buffering**

** (which is already up and complete, because this was a prequel)**

* * *

**And that was the end to Play, the prequel to Buffering, and another installment to this mini-series! **

**Stick around for the credits because I have a surprise for everyone! **

**HOOO-BOY, PICK-IT'S GOT A SURPRISE! Yes I do my friends, yes I do. **


	10. Credits and Special Thanks

**Credits, Special Thanks, and Final Author's Notes:**

Hi everybody! I'm the pick-it fence and I'm the creator of _Buffering, Play_, and my other stories. Man oh man, I'm so happy to have this story done and published. It was an absolute joy to write and to come up with. Although this was a mere prequel, I hope it still lived up to _Buffering's_ back story. Even with the drag of me adding things in last-minute, I still managed to end at _Buffering's _beginning.

For those who have already read _Buffering:_ I hope you enjoyed this little mini-series as much as I did writing it!

For those who haven't: Click my profile to find the story. Where this story ends, another begins. It's up to you if you read it or not.

I can't really say anything without repeating myself with _Buffering_'s final author's notes. I can say that I really do appreciate the support I've been getting while making this story. Thanks to you, I can write without thinking that I'm wasting someone's time. Unless I did waste your time. If I did, hey, you were the one who clicked on this story.

As far as a sequel for_ Buffering_ goes, that won't happen. Why? Because there were two endings. I wanted one, while I also thought that a happy ending was in order. Since I can't have two stories at once, the sequel will not happen.

I promised you a surprise, didn't I? Hmmm…well, I suppose that I should tell you what it is since you've been such a nice audience.

My next projects will be: _The Lovely Three_ and _In the End_

Check my profile for more info on those and check my profile regularly to see if anything has changed (because trust me, a lot will happen on my profile and that's how you stay up-to-date with what I'm doing).

_The Lovely Three_ is something that I've wanted to start for a long time.

_In the End _is actually one of my very first ideas. It was one of the first titles I had on my profile and it's been sitting there for a few months. It was meant to be a detailed one-shot, but then I chose to have it as a full-length story. With twists and everything!

Those will be up soon.

In the mean time, I'm happy to turn the switch for this story to COMPLETE.

**Credits:**

**Images - **(1-UP mushroom in a dim lighted area) Google Images

**Inspiration - **(beginning; chapters 1-3) nene1234's _The Greatest Story of Love_ (middle; chapters 4-6) Rage Comics, Smosh (end; chapters 7-9) What happens when I eat too much chocolate…hehe.

Mr. L's dialogue also had a hint of Mark Hamill's Joker in there. Mr. L's character was pretty much inspired by him. Batman villains are THE BEST. (agree to disagree, that means no fights, please, let's keep the peace)

**Characters - **Nintendo (Big thanks to them for creating such characters)

**Special Thanks:**

Thanks to my friends who told me to lay off Instagram and write more. Well, here I am…HERE I AM!

Thanks to the people who follow/favorited this story. You guys are awesome beyond compare.

Thanks to those who read the story. Guest or not, you were the cheese on the pizza…wait, what…

Thanks to my teachers who helped me improve my writing by one millimeter. It really helps. X3

AND I WILL SEE YOU…IN THE NEXT STORY!

BYE-BYE!


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